Cassie
by Alec Star
Summary: After the destruction of Sunnydale Willow makes a stunning discovery. Crossover with Highlander. COMPLETE I think
1. Cassie

Disclaimer: As you probably already know these characters and concepts don't belong to me, I'm just borrowing them for a while (without permission) and I promise to put them back where I found them once I'm done playing with them... oh, yes, and I'm not making any money out of this.  
  
Author's note: This is a little post-Chosen snippet that just wouldn't leave me alone. I believe it will be a stand alone, however if there's an interest in it I may consider expanding it once I'm done with "Hell". It sticks pretty close to canon with one obvious difference (someone didn't make it out of Sunnydale).  
  
Cassie  
  
Sunnydale is gone and I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that concept as we head to what are literally parts unknown in our little school bus. As painful as the loss of our town is, thinking about that is still a lot easier than thinking about the ones who didn't make it, like Anya, Spike and Kennedy. I can't believe she's gone... first Tara and now her. Is it something about me? I know it's absurd but I can't keep myself from wondering... just like I can't keep myself from wondering what would our lives have been like if Kennedy had made it.  
  
Somehow I don't think we would have gotten our happily ever after. We loved each other but we loved each other for now, it was not the soul deep bond I shared with Tara and we both knew it. In a way I think she loved me more than I loved her and I'll never forgive myself for that.  
  
Our whole relationship was ruled by ghosts... by my ghosts. Whether it was Tara's constant presence or Warren's, my past cast a giant shadow over us and now we'll never have a chance to move past it. In fact now I have a new ghost to add to that list.  
  
I guess it's only fitting seeing how this past year was dominated by dead people as the First used our loved ones against us. Okay, so maybe not just our loved ones, seeing how 'loved one' is not a label I would ever use to describe Warren. We were haunted by those we lost and by those we killed but there's something that doesn't quite add up, something that keeps nagging me, I just wish I could figure out what **_it_** is.  
  
And then out of nowhere it hits me. It happened long before we knew what was going on, long before we knew what it was that we were fighting, how it worked. It happened before we realized that we were dealing with a Big Bad that could impersonate **_any_** dead person it wanted. In fact it was a Big Bad that could even impersonate any formerly dead and not quite dead person it wanted. It could impersonate Buffy and it could impersonate Spike... and yet there was Cassie.  
  
That's the thing that's been bothering me because it just doesn't make sense. **_Why_** Cassie? Why not Tara herself? The more I think about it the more obvious it becomes that --as impossible as it may seem-- somewhere, whether it is in this dimension or in a different one, Tara is still alive and I won't rest until I find her.


	2. Cassie 2: A Different Life

Cassie 2: A Different Life  
  
I roll off my bed and instinctively reach for my sword before I even register the fact that I'm awake, it takes me a fraction of a second longer to identify the presence that woke me as my teacher's and to lower my blade. My life has changed a lot in this past year... since I died. Even now thinking about it sounds strange. I died and yet I'm still here, hiding from the ones I love... from the **_one_** I love.  
  
There are callouses on my palm now. The sword feels almost as a natural extension of my arm and yet I know I am weaker than I should be. As my teacher says, my strength is and will always be in my magic, not my sword... a magic that sometimes can even allow me to identify a familiar presence. The sword is my last resort but she insisted that I learn how to use a blade if I have to. I have never killed, I don't know if I'll ever be able to deliver that final blow, but I've learned to defend myself with or without magic.  
  
In a way it was a bizarre series of circumstances that allowed us to conceal the fact that I'm alive. If I had died anywhere but in Sunnydale it may not have been possible, not with friends who are used to having corpses walk away under their own power, but I died in Sunnydale and that made all the difference.   
  
We are still not entirely sure of exactly what happened but it seems like my quickening had to overcome not only my injuries but also the hellmouth's mystical energy and being a new Immortal that delayed the process significantly. By the time my quickening was ready to try and kick in there was also the devastating damage inflicted on my body by the autopsy to contend with, then came the embalming process in which my blood was replaced by a number of chemicals and on top of that there's the fact that all proceedings regarding death tend to be carried out with unusual haste in Sunnydale. Even if they won't acknowledge it both morgues and funeral homes try their best to make sure that new vampires are someone else's problem by the time they rise.   
  
I was already in my coffin by the time my body finally had a chance to heal enough to allow me to come back and I'll never forget that feeling, for months afterwards I kept all windows open regardless of the weather and even then I could hardly stand the thought of closing a door behind me. I tried to claw my way out of my grave but I died again before I could break free. At least I was fortunate enough to have someone digging to get me out... I am well aware that Buffy wasn't that lucky. The next time I woke up I found myself in a car next to a woman I had never seen before.  
  
At first I wanted to go back, that was all I could think of but I couldn't, she made it clear that it wasn't time for me to do that just yet. She told me that there were things I had to learn if I was to survive and that there was no way I could return to Sunnydale without jeopardizing them all. Back then I thought she meant that they would be in danger should a headhunter come looking for me before I was ready to defend myself, now I'm not so sure. A few of her comments would seem to indicate that the danger was of a different and much more serious nature. She said that nothing happens without a reason, that there was a purpose to my death and then she asked me to be patient, that the time would eventually come for me to go home. I know she is waiting for something, for some kind of sign before allowing me to return to my former life.   
  
At least I knew from the very beginning that in that regard I was unusually lucky, I knew that unlike most new Immortals I had been blessed with friends who would someday be able to understand and I knew I had time, I just prayed that they did too. Now I've gotten used to being here, seizing this opportunity to learn as much as I can --not only about combat but about magic as well-- while I wait for the day when I'll finally be allowed to go home. Somehow I know that day is almost here, as does my teacher.  
  
And then, after waiting for more than a year, I finally hear the words I've been longing to hear, as Cassandra tells me to pack my bags, that the time has come, that Willow is waiting for me.  
  
--  
  
AN- Okay, it's official, this little fic decided to grow up to be a crossover and there was nothing I could do about it, but it's going to be fairly short (which is why I decided to develop it side by side with "Hell" instead of finishing that one first... don't worry, it's not being abandoned).  
  
AN 2 (to Queen Boadicea)- Think of what happened in "Villains" as telling the truth and nothing but the truth... but not quite the whole truth. Willow was told that she didn't have a right to interfere, that Tara had had a human death by human means and there was nothing she could do about it... that is not being contradicted here and as you can see Tara was indeed buried in a neat little grave that bears her name.


	3. Cassie 3: Uncharted Path

Cassie 3- Uncharted Path  
  
We have been in the car for hours and I know Tara still doesn't quite understand what's going on, but she is entitled to an explanation. If she were more talkative it would be easy enough, I'd just have to answer her questions... the problem is that she doesn't ask them and that forces me to bring the whole subject up. I know this will be far from pleasant but it has to be said.  
  
"You must understand what happened, why you could not be allowed to go back before now." I say, breaking the silence.  
  
"But I **_don't_** understand. Why did you keep me away? Why are we going back now? What's the difference between yesterday and today?"  
  
"When you died Willow was on the brink of losing her mind," I explain, "the pain was more than she could handle and she gave in to the magic... completely. She killed the one who killed you but that was not enough. It was not enough to make the pain go away . She desperately wanted to stop the pain and she could only see one way to do that."  
  
"What do you mean?" She asks, even though I'm pretty sure she already knows, or at least suspects, what the answer to her question is.  
  
"The only way she knew to stop the pain was to destroy the world because suffering is part of life. She almost succeeded but in the end her friend Xander managed to get through to her. After that she was taken to an old coven in England where she learned how to control her power."  
  
"She has killed? She tried to destroy the world?"  
  
"Yes"  
  
"She needed me and you knowingly kept me away from her?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
She hesitates for a moment before asking, "would I have been able to prevent it?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then why did you do it? Why keep me away from her when I had the power to help her? Why make her go through all that?" I can count on one hand how many times I've seen Tara truly angry in this past year... seeing her now reminds me that that's a good thing.  
  
"Because it was her grief when she was confronted with your death that caused Willow to discover the true extent of her powers. Because it was her guilt over Warren's murder that caused her to learn how to control those powers... and because in the end it was a combination of both of those things that enabled her to save the world. If Willow had known that you were alive Warren's life could have been saved and the whole world would have been doomed as a result. The events that culminated in the latest battle had already been set in motion long before you died."  
  
"And now?" She whispers.  
  
"Now the battle has been won and the time has come for you to go home. She's waiting for you."  
  
"How can she be waiting for me when she thinks I'm dead? How am I supposed to explain this to her?" I can see she's growing increasingly anxious. Even though she has always been convinced that her friends will be able to deal with her immortality now that she is about to see them --or rather Willow-- again she's terrified, so I rush to reassure her.  
  
"She's waiting for you because their enemy could take the form of any dead person it wanted and yet it never took your form. By now she's figured out that that can only mean one thing: that you are alive. As to how you explain it, the answer is simple... you tell her the truth and trust that she can handle it." I say knowing that it is the only way.  
  
"But there's one thing I still don't understand... if the battle was won and the time has come for me to go home, why are we going to Cleveland? I mean, shouldn't we be going to California?" Okay, I can see the logic behind that question. Going to California would have been the natural choice under slightly different circumstances.  
  
"Because the battle may be over and your friends may have won but that doesn't mean that their town is still standing," I say, "Sunnydale has been reduced to a huge crater. They will arrive in Cleveland tomorrow... and you should be prepared for something else. Willow met someone in this past year."  
  
"Then maybe I shouldn't go back. I mean, if she's managed to move on then I don't have the right... and I understand. If she thought I was dead then it's only natural for her to have..."  
  
"You, my dear, are a terrible liar," I say shaking my head... does she really expect me to believe that? "you may be willing to accept that Willow found someone new but having to turn your back on her would kill you and you know it, however you don't have to worry about that. That someone never made it out of Sunnydale and Willow needs you now more than ever."


End file.
